


The Kitty and Her Trainer

by Wallwalker



Series: HSO Bonus Round-Up [12]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Circus, F/F, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-16
Updated: 2012-06-16
Packaged: 2017-11-07 21:37:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/435712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martinis, leotards and hoops of fire. Ain't circus life grand?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Kitty and Her Trainer

**Author's Note:**

> Written for HSO Bonus Round 1 - Nepeta/Roxy, Circus + Shapeshifting. Writing all the AUs for this game, ha ha.

"Looks like quite a crowd out there today!" You grin as you finish your traditional peek through the curtains. It's hard to see everything in venues like this, but you can see enough. 

"I know! It's so pawfully exciting, isn't it?" Nepeta gives you a big, toothy smile. "We haven't had a crrrowd like this in so long!"

"Well, I told them that our act would bring people in, didn't I?" You take one last slip of your second martini - you're allowed to have exactly two martinis before you begin your act now, since the ringmaster is a bit of an old-fashioned sort, and two martinis afterwards to celebrate and relax. It took you a long time to get him to agree to even that compromise! But you do better on stage with a drink or two, honest! 

_"And now, in the center ring, we have an act that will astound you, ladies and gents. A lady who can change shapes right before your eyes -"_

You reach over and give Nepeta a pat on the back. "You ready to go, kitty?" 

"Totally!" Her olive eyes are gleaming with excitement.

You hustle out the curtain - if you let yourself get distracted by all of Nepeta's enthusiasm and happiness, you might end up missing a cue again. Much better to hold off on all of that, at least until the act is over. 

_"And so, ladies and gentlement, I present to you, the lioness and her partner, Nepeta and Roxy!"_

You're ready for your cue as soon as the spotlight comes on, posing with your hands on your hips - you don't need a crop, not for your sweet little kitty - and Nepeta lounging behind you in her blue leotard and kitty mask. She stretches, poses, does amazing acrobatic contortions as you stalk around - this isn't the act. This is just a warm-up, something to keep the audience's attention while the hands set the stage for the _real_ act. Still, the audience eats it up, and if you didn't have to smile for the audience you'd eat it up too. It's perfect, that time - the crowd's roar is loud and perfectly fuzzed by the martinis, and you're ready. You're ready for _anything._

Nepeta finishes her posing and leaping and lands on all fours, and you glance over the stage entrance, looking for the flash of light - and there it is, blinking from the curtains. So you look back at Nepeta and signal, a complicated sort of wave that means _hey, kitty, we're ready to go!_

Nepeta grins, nods at you - and then _roars._ The audience gasps as Nepeta begins to shift, her body tearing out of its leotard as her hands shorten to paws. Soft olive fur covers her entire body, and her kitty tail is cast aside in place of a real one. The next time Nepeta roars, she's not just a troll-girl who looks a little like a kitten - she's a real jungle-cat, with fur the color of her eyes and massive white teeth. 

And now, you think, it's time for the fun part! You leap onto her back, balancing yourself on her muscular shoulders, and point. "Go!" you yell, and she looks back at you and gives you a kitty-grin, just before she leaps. 

And then you're off, balancing on her back as she makes her way through the elaborate course that the circus hands have just finished designing - leaping too, when she has to run under things that are too low for you to crouch under. You're feeling fantastic - you spent most of your childhood leaping through windows and rolling under logs and things, just so that someday you could do something like this! (Of course you never thought you'd be doing it on the back of a troll that could turn into a jungle cat, but those are just details, right?)

It's an amazing course, this time - they've really outdone themselves, right up to the to hoops at the end that sudden burst into flames as you approach, one of them _way_ higher than usual. It takes an awesome leap for you to make it up there, but somehow you do make it, and the crowd just goes wild! You're just overwhelmed as you and Nepeta make your final bows, amazed by the way that they just love you, your entire body pumped full of adrenaline. You barely even hear the ringmaster's final words as you walk backstage with Nepeta, still in her kitty shape.

She stays in it until you make it back to your trailer. You two have a private one, now, for which you're very grateful. "That," she said as she shifted back and flopped onto the cot, "was _pawsome._ " 

"It definitely was!" You flop into bed next to her, and give her a long hot kiss. "You were amazing, Neppy, you really were!"

She makes a self-satisfied little purring sound and reaches for you, pulling you close. "I know. But you were amazing too, you know!"

"We're both amazing, okay?" you say, and kiss her again. It's usually like this after a performance, which might be why they gave you the private trailer, to be fair. 

You'll have those martinis later. Right now, you've got something better.


End file.
